P.T. Barnum realized very quickly that entertainment is currency and was one of the first to use outdoor mass media.

Dave Young:

Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from Mom-and-Pop to major brands.

Steven Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Steven’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young.

Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those.

[Tommy Cool A/C & Plumbing Ad]

Dave Young:

Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast, Dave Young here and alongside Steven Semple. And if you were going to tell what Steven’s role is in this and what my role is in this, if we were going to use a theme that revolved around today’s topic, it would be Steven is the ringmaster in center ring.

Stephen Semple:

That’s where you’re going? Okay.

Dave Young:

And I’m like the chief clown driving the clown car because that’s where I’d rather be. We’re going to talk about Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey. Are we just talking about P.T. Barnum?

Stephen Semple:

We’re going to talk about P.T. Barnum because that’s really the origin of all of this is.

Dave Young:

P.T. Barnum.

Stephen Semple:

Yeah.

Dave Young:

I mean, what a guy. And I’ve never read a biography or anything, but what I know is, I’m guessing that he maybe invented the three-ring circus, but it’s the kind of thing where, man, to me, what he invented was just constant distraction.

Stephen Semple:

Yeah.

Dave Young:

Right? Like you go to a three-ring circus, it’s just going to be you’re going to be constantly distracted because you can’t see everything that happens in a three-ring circus.

Stephen Semple:

It’s true.

Dave Young:

And so there’s so many examples. We can talk about those. I’ll let you get going because I would just talk about all this stuff.

Stephen Semple:

Well, here’s the interesting thing. There’s a lot of historians who believe that his was the first use of mass outdoor advertising in America.

Dave Young:

Okay. That, I believe.

Stephen Semple:

Right?

Dave Young:

Sure.

Stephen Semple:

That he really invented the use of that as a medium.

Couple of interesting things he went through. So his full name is Phineas Taylor Barnum, and he was born in Bethel, Connecticut in 1810.

And he wasn’t born wealthy or talented or connected, but he kind of knew that attention was a form of currency. And it’s kind of interesting when we think about the world today with social media and things along that lines, attention is a form of currency.

Dave Young:

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

Stephen Semple:

And by the age of 12, he was selling snacks, lottery tickets, anything he could do to make a buck. And he was quoted as saying, “I’m a showman by profession and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me,” right? Like he just basically saw those things.

So his first commercial breakthrough, and it was also pretty controversial, was promoting Joice Heth, a Black woman, that he marketed as George Washington’s 161-year-old nurse.

Dave Young:

Okay.

Stephen Semple:

Guess what? It was not true.

Dave Young:

Well, so what year was this? When was this?

Stephen Semple:

1835.

Dave Young:

Good grief. 1835.

Stephen Semple:

Yeah.

Dave Young:

Okay.

Stephen Semple:

Yeah. But, but he was this relentless promoter who believed if there’s no story, there’s no audience.

So the next thing he did was what he called the American Museum, and this started in 1841, ran from 1841 to 1865. And basically in 1841, he bought Scudder’s American Museum, and he renamed it Barnum’s American Museum in New York.

And basically, again, this is considered one of the very first modern mass entertainment facilities, and here’s what he did. He exhibited things of science, oddity, theater, stunts. There was new attractions weekly, so people had to come back. And there was live performances like the General Tom Thumb, magicians, and the first use of mass outdoor advertising, went all around New York City putting up billboards, pasting billboards up all over the city.

And on peak days, it’s reported that on peak days, he drew 15,000 people into a single building without electricity, AC, or cars to transport them around. 15,000 people.

Dave Young:

Boy. That’s amazing. Yeah.

Stephen Semple:

And Barnum would talk about people don’t want facts. People want astonishment.

So for 25 years, this museum was really the epicenter in America for entertainment until it burned down in 1865. And he lost everything when it burned down. He built a second one. Five years later, it burned down, right?

But Barnum realized he was going to reinvent himself again, this time as a public speaker, giving lectures. He did lectures on success and temperance of business. He wrote the book, The Art of Money-Getting.

Dave Young:

Okay. Yeah.

Stephen Semple:

In 1871, his biggest, final act was at age 61… So think about this. This is the 19th century, age 61, our age, he decides he’s going to launch the circus, P.T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Hippodrome.

Dave Young:

There’s...